The uniaxial constant velocity microactuator (UCVM) was developed to fulfill the positioning requirements of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Molecular Measuring Machine. The Molecular Measuring Machine is a scanning tunneling microscope based, high resolution, coordinate measuring machine. Requirements for the positioning system of the Molecular Measuring Machine are: 1) ultra-high vacuum pressure compatibility to 1.times.10.sup.-8 Torr or less, 2) super-smooth motion profile with less than 1 nanometer of ripple, 3) very low heat generation of 1 milliwatt or less, 4) pushing force greater than 10 lbs, 5) positioning resolution less than 1 micrometer, and 6) positioning range greater than 5 centimeters. These requirements could not be fulfilled by any single commercially available microactuator, hence development work which resulted in the UCVM began at NIST and has culminated at ORNL with the demonstration of a positioning system which meets or exceeds all of the design requirements.